Monday, April 16, 2007

Blackwolf's Pitch: The Earth Day Special II

This coming Sunday, April 22nd, is Earth Day, goodly gentles, and now that all this Imus fuss has (hopefully) died down, as it should, I can do what I had hoped to do a while ago, but could not --- and that is to introduce you Mortals to a delightful piece of vintage TV from 1990. It was originally broadcast on ABC on Earth Day 1990 (natch!), which was itself, ironically, a Sunday; and the show was called (and even then the title was quite state-of-the-art for its time!) Time Warner Presents the Earth Day Special.

Combining music, comedy, drama and informational material, The Earth Day Special was a monumental piece of television. Indeed, as Porky Pig explained to Bugs Bunny in the opening segment, the show was "an all-star g-g-g-gala celebration" marking the 20th anniversary of Earth Day. An entire stage at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California was transformed into a typical American small town where an ailing spirit of Mother Earth (portrayed by Bette Midler) reverted herself to Mortal form, willing to sacrifice herself so that our precious Planet could endure.

Real-life husband-and-wife legends Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman watched the proceedings from their own living room, Danny being cast in the role of a cynical, non-understanding guy named named Vic (with Rhea as his wife, of course). There were moments on that show from stars that you knew, stars that you'd barely heard of --- and a few stars you weren't even aware of. Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman, Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas, Magic Johnson, Pat Riley, Dr. Carl Sagan, Jane Fonda, Michael Keaton .... why, some stars dared to re-create their familar movie and TV alter egos just for this show, notably Candice Bergen's Murphy Brown; Neil Patrick Harris' Doogie Howser; Christopher Lloyd's Doc Brown from the Back to the Future trilogy; Harold Ramis as the brother of Ghostbusters' own Egon Spengler --- and even Steven Spielberg's E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial beamed down as well.

There were two major and inspiring original songs. The first of these, "The Planet Raps Back," kicked off with Quincy Jones introducing a posse of rap music's then finest: Queen Latifah, Will Smith (then in his Fresh Prince mode), Ice-T, Tone-Loc, Kid n' Play and Heavy D. The second song, "One Day," was written by the classic trio of composer Michel Legrand and lyricists Alan & Marilyn Begrman --- and it was sung the way that only Streisand could sing it!

In between, there were others, watching from their own TV sets: the Cheers gang; Kermit the Frog and his nephew Robin; the Huxtables of The Cosby Show; those delicious Golden Girls; and those oh, so obnoxious Bundys from Married w/Children. Even Jeopardy! and Chuck Barris' Dating Game got into the thing, too!

But I digress. The show was a unique roster of superstars and behind-the-scenes talent, the majority of them having contributed their talents for free, as the show would later be sold as a VHS videocassette, the proceeds from said sale benefitting the nonprofit People of the Earth Foundation, which co-produced The Earth Day Special with Beacon Communications, Richard Baskin Inc. and the SUM Entertainment Group in association with Warner Bros. Television. Now, however, in the wake of the Academy Award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth, it's obvious to your Dragonmaster that there's a need to make the public more aware of what has happened to our world since this show was shot a little over 17 years ago. Hence, The Earth Day Special II.

Why The Earth Day Special II? We have reached an environmental crossroads --- one so dangerous, in fact, that a recent New York Daily News article quoted a representative from the Natural Resources Defense Council as saying that, should certain events be allowed to continue, Lower Manhattan --- and, by extent, all of New York City --- might experience flooding on an unprecedented scale! Maybe Roland Emmerich's movie The Day After Tomorrow might happen faster than the filmmakers had imagined! So now, kiddos, there's a need for a new television special --- one that can bring us up to date on the info covered on the original Earth Day Special ---- and can provide new details on what needs to be done NOW!

And as for starpower? We need several of the stars who did the first Earth Day Special to come back and get the job done on the new one. Bette Midler, though, was quite correct when, as the first show came to its conclusion, she said that "It's gonna take a whole lot more ... than just one television show and all our good intentions to save Mother Earth." To which your Dragonmaster says a humble "Indeed!"

By the way, Lord Clisto Seversword called me up the other night. Clearly, he wanted to know what I was up to. i wasted little time in bringing me old friend up to speed. I jsut hope I can remember to give him a proper buzz next time. (Hell, in fact, methinks I'll do so right now!)

Anyway, Mortals, I wanna hear your thoughts on my pitch for The Earth Day Special II. You know how to find this foolish old Wizard --- blackbeardian@yahoo.com or electric_pirates@hotmail.com.